The present invention relates to a locking security device, and in particular, to a security device for protecting utility meters, and even more particularly, for protecting the electrical connections contained in a housing leading to an electrical utility meter.
In the past, electric utility meters have been mounted in metal housings, such that the meter is mounted either in a separate housing or attached to another housing in which electrical connections, often including switches and circuit protection components, are disposed. Electrical utilities have had the problem that unscrupulous persons have often pried open the locked exteriors of these housings in order to circumvent operation of the electrical meter by suitably placing short circuit connections to by-pass the electrical meter.
An example of a prior art arrangement for preventing tampering with electrical meters is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,313,319 to Haus, Jr. et al. In this patent, a heavy locking cylinder is attached to the metal housing containing the electrical meter or wiring for the electrical meter. The locking cylinder is bolted to the metal housing and contains a machined hole therethrough for receipt of a lock. The locking cylinder is further received in an exterior mounted rectangular body having two-cylindrical intersecting bores, one for receiving the locking cylinder extending through a hole in the housing and the other for receiving a cylindrical lock member which is removable with a key. The locking cylinder which mounts through an opening in the housing is received in one bore of the rectangular body, such that when the cylinder lock is received in the other bore, the cylinder lock passes through or intersects the opening in the locking cylinder. The key for removing the cylinder lock and the cylinder lock itself disclosed in the '319 patent are also disclosed in further detail in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,155,232 and 4,040,279.
The locking device disclosed in the '319 patent has met with wide acceptance by utility companies for securing electrical meters. The device of the '319 patent, however, has serious disadvantages. First, the device of the '319 patent requires that relatively large holes be cut, drilled, or punched into the housing holding the electrical meter or the connections to the electrical meter. Secondly, because of the time-consuming requirement for drilling, boring or punching holes in the housing, typically only one such lock is utilized on a particular housing. As a result, the housings still can be pried open at portions of the box disposed at a distance from the location of the locking device, i.e., at a corner of the box removed from the location of the locking device. Furthermore, the device of the '319 patent, in addition to being defeatable and relatively expensive and time-consuming to mount on the housing, is also relatively expensive, since it is for the most part exposed, and thus must be made of heavy gauge materials.